A few weeks ago we were thrilled when our Speaker Dr. Robert Ballard was featured on an episode of 60 Minutes, the longest continuously running prime-time show in American television history. Dr. Ballard was fascinating, intriguing, and proved on-screen that he is an amazing storyteller which contributes to making him a powerful Speaker. At the office the next day we had a debate, and then a vote as to who else we thought should be featured on 60 minutes. Below are our top 5 choices for Speakers who we truly believe would fascinate TV viewers as they have with every live audience we have ever booked them for (Also we’re sending this list to Morley Safer!)*

Happiness is a science. It is also a prevalent goal that so many people are trying to obtain, whether at home or at work. Unfortunately, most people have their “happiness plan” backwards – and that’s where positive psychology expert Shawn Achor comes in. Believing that happiness is the result of success, money, etc., few recognize that happiness is not the end result – it is the cause. After extensive research, Shawn Achor found that the most successful people with the healthiest social relationships began their endeavors with optimism and positivity – Happiness is not the goal, but the catalyst for overall contentment. Shawn provides practical applications to help his audiences shift their mindsets, teaching them how to be happy first, and watch the rest fall into place.

Robyn Benincasa is the ultimate influencer – she inspires those around her to take beautifully brazen risks like climb a mountain, join an adventure racing team, or even start their own business. As a professional adventure racer, Robyn has travelled the world, pushing her body and her team to new and exciting heights. She is also a full time firefighter in America’s first all-female crew and is the founder of Project Athena: a non-profit dedicated to helping women with medical issues achieve their athletic dreams. Robyn’s stories excite, inspire, and astonish anyone who hears them – her narrative will capture all audiences and empower them to recognize that their limitations are simply their own perceptions, not their reality.

Businesses no longer operate in an isolated environment. Our ever-growing interconnectivity compels organizations to not just observe what is going on in their own backyards, but to extend their watch beyond their borders. Dr. George Friedman is an expert on how business is being impacted by both events and individuals half way across the world. He is a master analyst who evaluates global trends and identifies who and what will affect how your organization does business – either bracing for a significant shift in foreign dynamics or identifying emerging markets that could result in huge opportunities. His fascinating insights would appeal to audiences from executives of large corporations to anyone who wants to keep their fingers on the pulse of global developments.

There is no greater workplace issue impacting business today than generational conflict. Cam Marston is the leading authority on how the changing generational demographics in the workplace and in the marketplace will influence your business. Cam explains the differences of each generation currently in the workplace and how to recruit, retain, and manage each of these diverse groups. Furthermore, he also knows exactly how to sell to each of them. Cam’s insights into the generational differences will inform employers as to how to ease tensions that arise in the office, cultivate a collaborative working environment, and increase sales!

Peter Ricchiuti | Economist, and Professor at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University

Too often economic experts use abstruse jargon when speaking of finance, making it inaccessible to those outside the financial realm. Peter Ricchiuti is the economist who makes finance not only easily understandable, but fun too! Peter has a fantastic sense of humor and uses it to connect with his audiences – explaining the economy and finance in a way that is inclusive of all knowledge-bases and backgrounds. Peter Ricchiuti is truly The Everyman’s Economist!

*Speakers are listed in alphabetical order

How to Live Longer: Adopting a Blue Zones Lifestyle

Featured on November 7th’s episode of 60 Minutes, reporter Liz Hayes visited the small Greek island of Ikaria where people are three times more likely than the average American to live into their 90s. Identified as a Blue Zone, Ikaria is one of five locations where people live longer and know how to be happier than the rest of us (https://bit.ly/19SRKYb).

In 2004, internationally recognized researcher and explorer Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic and hired the world’s best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people lived measurably better. In these Blue Zones they found that people reach age 100 at rates 10 times greater than in the United States. They found the extra 10 years that we’re missing.

The key to getting the extra 10 years we’re missing is to follow the lessons from the world’s longest-lived people and create environments of health. For the first time in living history, the life expectancy of children is projected to drop. With obesity and diabetes on the rise, we are bombarded daily with hundreds of marketing messages encouraging us to eat things that aren’t good for us. Machines have engineered physical activity out of lives and networked electronics are replacing face-to-face human contact. We can counteract our environment of sickness by living by the simple lessons learned from the Blue Zones.

Seventh Day Adventists – Highest concentration is around Loma Linda, California. They live 10 years longer than their North American counterparts; and

Okinawa, Japan – Females over 70 are the longest-lived population in the world.

Buettner and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to identify lifestyle characteristics that might explain longevity. They found that the lifestyles of all Blue Zones residents shared nine specific characteristics. They call this list of characteristics the Power 9.

Move Naturally: The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.

Purpose: The Okinawans call it “Ikigai” and the Nicoyans call it “plan de vida;” for both it translates to “why I wake up in the morning.” Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy.

Down Shift: Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress. Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. What the world’s longest-lived people have that we don’t are routines to shed that stress. Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.

80% Rule: “Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat any more the rest of the day.

Plant Slant: Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Meat—mostly pork—is eaten on average only five times per month. Serving sizes are 3-4 oz., about the size of deck or cards.

Wine at 5: People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly. Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink 1-2 glasses per day (preferably Sardinian Cannonau wine), with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all weekend and have 14 drinks on Saturday.

Belong: All but five of the 263 centenarians we interviewed belonged to some faith-based community. Denomination doesn’t seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy.

Loved Ones First: Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.). They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love (They’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes).

Right Tribe: The world’s longest lived people chose–or were born into–social circles that supported healthy behaviors, Okinawans created ”moais”–groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So the social networks of long-lived people have favorably shaped their health behaviors.

According to Buettner, by improving their lifestyle, people can look and feel better at every age and add 12 years to their life expectancy. The Danish Twin Studies established that less than 25% of how long the average person lives is dictated by genes. In other words, most of how long and how well you live is up to you.

To learn more about what Dan Buettner discovered during each Longevity Quest, please see his two best-selling books The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest and Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way.

Dan Buettner is an internationally recognized researcher, explorer, and New York Times bestselling author and National Geographic Fellow. He founded Blue Zones, a company that puts the world’s best practices in longevity andwell-being to work in people’s lives. Buettner’s National Geographic cover story on longevity, The Secrets of Living Longer was one of their top-selling issues in history and a made him a finalist for a National Magazine Award. His booksThe Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest and Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way appeared on many best seller lists and were both featured on Oprah.

In 2009, Dan Buettner and his partner, AARP, applied principles of The Blue Zones to Albert Lea, Minnesota and successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs by some 40%. He’s currently working with Healthways to implement the program in the Beach Cities of Los Angeles. Their strategy focuses on optimizing the health environment instead of individual behavior change. Writing in Newsweek, Harvard University’s Walter Willet called the results stunning.

Dan also holds three world records in distance cycling and has won an Emmy Award for television production.